From WikiLeaks

Reuters Africa: Moi's son threatens to sue over Kenya graft report

NAIROBI, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The youngest son of Kenya's former president Daniel arap Moi has rejected a leaked 2004 report that his father's inner circle stole $2 billion of state money.

In comments published by a local newspaper on Saturday, Gideon Moi said he would sue the British Guardian newspaper, which on Friday said risk consultancy group Kroll had exposed a web of shell companies, hidden trusts and frontmen used by Moi's family and associates used to funnel vast sums abroad.

"None of us has seen this so-called report but the allegations contained there are untrue and highly libellous," he told the Nairobi Star through a spokesman. "To accuse someone of corruption, which the report purports to do, at this time of year, is very damaging. I intend to take action."

Kenya is due to hold elections in December, and the expose surfaced just three days after former president Moi publicly backed his successor Mwai Kibaki for re-election.

Moi stepped down in 2002 after a 24-year rule noted for endemic graft that nearly ruined east Africa's biggest economy.

The Guardian said if the report was true it put him on a par with Africa's other "great kleptocrats", the former dictators of Zaire and Nigeria, Mobutu Sese Seko and Sani Abacha.

Neither Moi nor his spokesman has commented on the report.

But his lawyers have repeatedly denied such allegations in the past, and on Friday a Kenyan government spokesman dismissed the report as "inconclusive" and a "political gimmick" meant to score points against Kibaki because of his alliance with Moi.

The Guardian report said stolen funds had been used to buy multi-million pound properties in London, New York and South Africa, while "hundreds of millions" were siphoned into foreign bank accounts. Moi's sons Gideon and Philip were reported to be worth a combined 930 million pounds ($1.86 billion).